Quasimoto

The Mooney Suzuki, “Oh Sweet Susanna”

Sometimes, we get a band on here that I just want to describe as “rock”. Just rock. This is a rock band, playing a rock song. Rock. You want rock? Have rock.

Yautja, “A Killing Joke”

Yautja is most frequently described as a combination of sludge and grindcore, which are two genres that don’t sit very naturally together in my head. There’s a monomaniacal relentlessness to grindcore, a commitment to aggression above all else, that doesn’t marry to sludge’s necessity for timing being key and the flexibility to stretch or compress things. But Yautja makes it work, and it’s a unique sound they’ve assembled. This is from last year’s The Lurch, and I recommend it.

Michael Jackson, “The Girl Is Mine”

Corniest song we’ve had on here? Quite possibly!

Bim Skala Bim, “Sunshine Of Your Love”

This is from an early Bim Skala Bim album (Tuba City), from before they kind of settled down into a more traditional groove and started making their best tunes. It’s not a bad album, but it’s one of the last I’d go for from them as well.

Quasimoto, “Rappcats, Part 3”

Oh my god, that beat absolutely melted my brain. Sorry, can’t type more, it’s hard to see the screen nodding my head this much.

Quasimoto, “Don’t Blink”

Quasimoto is one of Madlib’s many aliases, and probably the most unhinged of his various projects. The production in particular is spastic, with sounds popping in and out in unpredictable ways, giving the proceedings a lurching feel that is diquieting. Combine that with his disaffected, helium-accented flow, and it’s just a very strange record. Really good, though.

Tortoise, “Spiderwebbed”

The first Tortoise record is a landmark in post-rock, representing an approach to making music with guitars and drums that would help inspire lots of following bands. I don’t think it’s their best record, but it’s excellent stuff, and it’s easy to see why this album got people excited.

The Jam, “That’s Entertainment”

I wasn’t following music during the Jam’s heyday, what with being too young, but they were pretty big shit. Specifically, according to Wikipedia, “That’s Enterainment” is still the best-selling single in the UK ever. Pretty impressive! Lovely song, too.

The Mr. T Experience, “More Than Toast”

Here’s MTX doing what they do best, laying down a catchy pop-punk tune for three minutes and then getting out of here. I will honor them by doing the same.

Almost like a Special in here today!

Mr. Lif, “Success”

I feel like I haven’t bought a new concept record in a while. I suppose some of the unintelligable garbled metal I listen to could be concept records, I’d have no real way of knowing. You could tell me basically anything about the lyrics or themes or whatever of some of those slabs and I’d probably believe you. At any rate, many of my favorite concept records are rap records, and I Phantom is one of the very best.

A couple of sweet hip-hop beats today.

Quasimoto, “Blitz”

You can just hear the dust on the vinyl on that drum loop. And that sax! My god, for a short track, this is just great. Madlib is a genius.

G.E. Smith & The Saturday Night Live Band, “Sloozy”

I can just picture the faces G.E. Smith is pulling while playing this song. Which led me here, for pictures of guitarists making faces. Also, apparently G.E. Smith is a big Trump supporter, as I learned from the search “G.E. Smith making faces”.

I could get used to sets like today.

Hayaino Daisuki, “Aka”

A delightful EP from a Hydra Head grab bag, this is just pure speed. It doesn’t quite sound to me like grindcore, more like thrash being played extra fast. It’s sort of comical, but also kind of charming.

What is wrong with me that I find this charming?

The Grifters, “Hours”

This song is from the Grifters’ last album, Full Blown Possession. By the time they wrapped things up, most of the truly ramshackle stuff had been worked out of their sound. They no longer were a lo-fi band that sounded like they were recorded in a basement. To be totally honest, I kind of preferred more grit in their sound, but they also never made a bad record.

This set was going pretty well for a while! Oh well.

Meat Beat Manifesto, “I Got The Fear, Pt. 3”

Meat Beat Manifesto had a bit of a strange start to their career. Their first album was destroyed in a studio fire prior to release, a story that the band has stuck to but their label denied happened. Their debut album then instead became Storm the Studio, which was really just four songs, but they put out multiple parts and variations of everything. That was then followed by Armed Audio Warfare, which was their attempt to re-create their actual debut record, so they kind of released their first couple albums out of order.